Possible Clues:

• Struggle opening bottle for teetotaller surrounded by drink
• Bishop and former PM briefly in conflict
• The __ of the Republic, song from which Steinbeck took the title to 8/14
• Some mob Attlee arriving at Waterloo for one
• British PM's unfinished struggle
• British PM lacking energy for fight
• British PM once briefly in fight
• Engagement
• Abstainer surrounded by British booze? It's a struggle!
• Military encounter